What we did when we had a dog like that was this..... We went out and bought about 300 clay birds and tied our pup to a tree only about 10 feet away. So for the next 3 hours we pet him while others shot at it but we only gave him praise once he started to relax.... so not to confuse him into thinking it was ok to be afraid. Now we can shoot right over him and he could care less. This will work and it gets you on your game so your dog actually has something to retrieve when you go out.

Get in an open field and get a buddy to come with you. Get him to stand about 75 or 100 yards behind you and stand with your dog in front of him. get him to fire shots into the air if using a shotgun on shoot in the oppisite direction when using a rifle. see how your dog reacts to the shot. if shes fne and isnt scared get him to move a little closer to you maybe 10 or 20 yards. Continue the process until you see your dog is frihtnened by the shot and if she is then just stay at that yardage and continue to fire until she gets used to it. after she gets used to continue to move forward until your riht up behind her. Make sure she is as comfortable as possible and if your training er to retrieve throw a dummy up in the air after each shot and let her retrieve it. she should be fine after she gets used to the sound of the gun

Get in an open field and get a buddy to come with you. Get him to stand about 75 or 100 yards behind you and stand with your dog in front of him. get him to fire shots into the air if using a shotgun on shoot in the oppisite direction when using a rifle. see how your dog reacts to the shot. if shes fne and isnt scared get him to move a little closer to you maybe 10 or 20 yards. Continue the process until you see your dog is frihtnened by the shot and if she is then just stay at that yardage and continue to fire until she gets used to it. after she gets used to continue to move forward until your riht up behind her. Make sure she is as comfortable as possible and if your training er to retrieve throw a dummy up in the air after each shot and let her retrieve it. she should be fine after she gets used to the sound of the gun

This dog was frightened my shots over a mile away. If it was at all audible, she was scared! I finally found a good home for her a couple months ago. She has room to run and everything on a farm. We currently have three GSP's and a chocolate lab so it's nice having one less dog. She was a pain. I have never invested so much time, money, and energy into something like that without results.

I don't know if it's possible to fix, you can try but most likely it will just make it worse! I know this was old but it just seems like something I had to write on. Please do not attempt to cure a gun shy dog. Give it a good home or make it a pet. Some might have luck but it's not the best idea IMO its pretty wrong! A spooked dog maybe but a dog that high tails it out of the area should be loved not drivin crazy scared! The guy who tied his dog to a tree while shooting clay for 3 hours should be bitten repeadadly. Anyone in the future or guests that read this thread please dont attempt any of this, take loss get a new dog. Force breaking a dog to retrieve is one thing but trying to force break a gun shy dog is plain crazy! Thanks

Training a dog to retrieve is also part of gun training,you start them off early,with a 22 and hearing shots from that at a distance. Then move the dog closer to the shooter,if the dog is still comfortable with the sound, move closer until you run into a problem,but with every shot have the shooter toss a dokken or bumper then shoot,let the dog retrieve the bumper,this is something for the dog to focas on that it knows is safe,and they really like! If you run into a problem with it, move the dog back farther from the gun shot,until the dog is comfortable with the shot,then continue to move toward the shooter until you are standing next to the shooter without any shying away! Once this is achieved raise the noise level of the gun to a 410,then 20ga,then 12ga,and repeat the steps of moving the dog closer to the shots,again move back with the dog if they respond negatively and stay that distance until the dog retrieves without issues,becomes comfortable with the noise! Then move in increments of 5 yards closer each time! This is how most trainers teach the dogs to work around guns! Hope this helps,I know this thread was started a few years ago,but it will still work with any dog at any age! If you start a dog next to a gun and they have never been subjected to that noise level,you may have hurt thier ears,and made them gun shy,this makes it harder to break but can be achieved with time and alot of work,remember all dogs need to be trained regardless of genetics and that training needs to be slowly brought about,slowly introduced in stages,repeatedly,until they learn what you want them to do! Remember we all crawled before we walked! But everything we did as a baby was building up to walking,same with a dog,build up to the gun!

Thats sound advice Pete. Like you said this thread is a few years old, but it could come in searches for the problem. The key is to Intro the dog to the gun properly and that is just how you do it. I know all of my dogs have been exposed to guns by the time they are 8 mths old.

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Hunter

"call loud cause I can, soft cause I must, share no secerts, no one I trust, rain or shine it don't matter to me, I'm turkey thug of the 10th degree" -cuz turkey thug intro

When your in the turkey woods from sun rise to sun set, wear out a pair of boots, and 4 cushions every time you go you know you gave it all you had.